


sing me a sad song

by enmity



Category: Persona 2, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 19:28:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11470170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enmity/pseuds/enmity
Summary: She can tell when the soft curve of Elly’s mouth is something sincere, rather than justnice.





	sing me a sad song

She decides she likes Eriko within the first few minutes of getting to know her. Elly isn’t a skeptic like Bao, or a realist like Katsuya; her interest in mysticism is genuine, and seeing how broad her smile gets when she talks about it with her makes Ulala’s heart skip, just a little bit. Smiling is part of her job, so it should be no surprise that Elly’s is pretty – disarmingly so – but Ulala’s as much a woman as any and she can tell when the soft curve of her mouth is something sincere, rather than just _nice_.

She can tell, because she’s given – _been_ given – so many of those smiles too. It’s like some sort of consolation prize. By the time Ulala’s a senior in high school she’s already long accepted that she would never be able to emulate Maya’s beauty when it truly counted, and not the least when it came to smiling. There’s a difference between trying and forcing, after all, and she learned that the hard way. But Ulala’s not seventeen anymore, and when it comes to her and Maya, she has no shortage of inadequacies. She’s used to it.

When she sees Elly like that, though, there’s no jealousy, no lingering resentment floating from the recess of her heart and to the surface. She just feels sad. Eriko never puts on a grimace when there’s anyone in the room to see her do it, but that doesn’t mean Ulala doesn’t notice moments when she presses her lips a bit more tightly, when her gaze falls to the floor, or when that twinkle in her eye starts to dim, fading like stars in the light of dawn.

Eriko still looks pretty, even when she’s troubled – her beauty would probably shine through her tears, Ulala thinks. If she cried, she wouldn’t cry unattractively; she’d drown beautifully in her sorrow the way people in movies do, with perfect faces and perfect tears. But just because that’s the case, doesn’t make it alright.

—

Elly’s a nice girl, so maybe that’s the reason she finds herself caught up in all this trouble.

“You weren’t weak,” Ulala tells her, brushing the dust from her skirt. The words come easily to her because they’re true: Elly is far stronger than Ulala herself is, has been, could ever hope to be. She’s good at finding things to be envious of. “It was dirty of her, using his face to taunt you.”

“The things it said… I can’t say for certain they are untrue. I’m sorry. You must think I’m a horrible person, Ulala.”

Elly’s eyes are rimmed with red, but they’re dry, and her lips are a line. She blinks, as if trying to will the rest of her emotions away. Ulala wants to offer her something – a tissue, a hand on her shoulder, anything.

“Don’t say that!”

She doesn’t mean for it to come out so harshly but it does, and immediately she winces, something tightening in her chest. Ulala reaches out the space between them, capturing Elly’s hands in hers. They’re small and soft and warm – no calluses or tape or scars from clumsy accidents with knives – and she’s struck with a sudden burst of self-consciousness, but that only makes her fingers curl more tightly around Elly’s, as if looking for something to hold onto.

“If you could fall for him… then he must’ve been a good guy! There’s no way he’d say any of those things. You must know that better than anyone.”

She lifts her chin up to reveal a smile, tiny but genuine, and in the few seconds it takes before Ulala returns the gesture, she can’t help but think about something someone told her, once – women really do look the best when they’re being honest.

“Thank you,” Elly says.

(Maybe, Ulala thinks, she should try following that saying sometime.)

**Author's Note:**

> 29/09/17: still have not played eriko's route. sorry.


End file.
